In this study, a low-altitude remote sensing (LARS) observation system was employed to observe a rapidly changing coastal environment-owed to the regular opening of the sluice gate of the Saemangeum seawall-off the west coast of South Korea. The LARS system uses an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a multispectral camera, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) module to acquire geometry information. The UAV system can observe the coastal sea surface in two dimensions with high temporal (1 s⁻¹) and spatial (20 cm) resolutions, which can compensate for the coarse spatial resolution of in-situ measurements and the low temporal resolution of satellite observations. Sky radiance, sea surface radiance, and irradiance were obtained using a multispectral camera attached to the LARS system, and the remote sensing reflectance (R_rs) was accordingly calculated. In addition, the hyperspectral radiometer and in-situ chlorophyll-a concentration (CHL) measurements were obtained from a research vessel to validate the R_rs observed using the multispectral camera. Multi-linear regression (MLR) was then applied to derive the relationship between R_rs of each wavelength observed using the multispectral sensor on the UAV and the in-situ CHL. As a result of applying MLR, the correlation and root mean square error (RMSE) between the remotely sensed and in-situ CHLs were 0.94 and ~0.8 μg L⁻¹, respectively; these results show a higher correlation coefficient and lower RMSE than those of other, previous studies. The newly derived algorithm for the CHL estimation enables us to survey 2D CHL images at high temporal and spatial resolutions in extremely turbid coastal oceans.

Optical remote sensing using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is proposed to monitor changes in marine environments effectively. Optical measurements were performed using a UAV multispectral camera (RedEdge, five spectral wavelengths of 475, 560, 668, 717, and 842 nm) with high spatial (5 cm) and temporal (1 s) resolutions to monitor the rapidly changing suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in the Saemangeum coastal area on the western coast of Korea. To develop the SSC algorithm, optical field, and water sample measurements were obtained from outside (11 stations) and inside (three stations) regions separated by a seawall, accounting for 100 measurements from 2018 to 2020. Accordingly, the remote sensing reflectance (R_rs) was estimated at each sampling station and used to develop the SSC algorithm based on multiple linear regression. The algorithm reasonably estimated the SSC with an R² and root mean square error of 0.83 and 4.27 (mg L⁻¹), respectively. Continuous individual UAV measurements over the coastal area of Saemangeum were combined to generate a wider SSC map. For the UAV observational data, the atmospheric influence at each altitude was reduced to the surface altitude level using a relative atmospheric correction technique. The SSC map enabled front monitoring of SSC fluctuations caused by discharge water due to the sluice gate opening. These results demonstrated the usability of the UAV-based SSC algorithm and confirmed the possibility of monitoring rapid SSC fluctuations.